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3. Tips for remote video calls
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Be intentional about your communication
Don't rely on nonverbal cues—ask for feedback in chat
Call on participants by name
Leave a few seconds for people to respond
Ensure everyone has a chance to participate
Agree on tech protocols ahead of time
Know who's hosting the meeting and screen sharing
Decide where written chat will happen during the call
Determine if you need to record the meeting
Brush up on your video call etiquette
Mute by default if it's a large meeting
Default to keeping video on
Avoid distractions (close other programs, mute notifications)
Keep reading
7 strategies for running effective remote meetings
When should you mute yourself during a video call?
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Section 1
How to be a pro at
remote meetings
Since meetings are a core part of team collaboration, one of the first
things you'll want to do when moving to remote work is pick a video
conferencing app. Once you've settled on a tool, the next step is to learn
how to run and participate in effective remote meetings.

4. Level up your remote meetings
search for your favorites
Don't see your app here? Zapier connects to thousands of
apps— .
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Get reminders for upcoming meetings
Automate the last-minute scramble by sending reminders to a
public channel (and even @ tagging invitees for standing
meetings). In addition to serving as a reminder, it can also provide
everyone with the link to the video call and include any other
details that are stored in your calendar event.
Create meeting agendas automatically for every meeting
Instead of manually creating a new note or document at the
beginning of every meeting, you can use automation to create new
communal folders, docs, or spreadsheets every time you have a
meeting on your calendar. That way, when the meeting starts, you
already have the doc ready.

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Remember to follow up on action items
Create workflows that help you track and complete action items
after meetings. You can get notifications in your chat app or
automatically add items to your task management program.
Connect your calendar and video app automatically
Forgetting to add the video call link to your calendar invite—or
forgetting to create one at all—can lead to a last-minute scramble
and late meetings. Use automation to sync your calendar and
video call app.
Keep reading
Never lose a meeting action item: automate the process
Streamline your meetings with these workflows
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6. Section 2
How to be a pro at remote
chat communication
First, pick one main chat tool where all important conversations happen
across your company. Then use communication best practices, so the
signal-to-noise ratio remains high and all the most important
conversations filter to the top.
Tips for remote chat
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Be specific and concise in chat
Ask direct questions and tag a particular teammate or group
Provide context and include links to any relevant documentation
Start with the core information and add detail in threads
Organize your conversations
Create channels or rooms for different teams and projects
Use threads for specific conversation topics
Communicate in public channels and include keywords for easy searching
Make space for fun
Mimic your favorite in-office activities in your team chat app
Build trust with your team by dedicating time to socialize
Create special interest channels or rooms
Keep reading
5tips for communicating on a remote team
How to make small talk when working remotely (without being weird)
Why remote work makes disagreement hard—and how to do it anyway
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7. Level up your remote meetings
search for your favorites
Don't see your app here? Zapier connects to thousands of
apps— .
7
Automatically keep your team in the loop
When working remotely, you can't always tell if someone's on a call,
has their head down, or has stepped away from their desk. To avoid
interrupting someone else's focus time, use automation to make
sure the information people need is automatically surfaced in the
relevant channels. This keeps information public, where everyone
who needs it can see it, and keeps a task off your to-do list.
Filter out noise and take action from your chat app
If you're funneling all your important notifications and
communication into your team chat tool, there's bound to be a lot
of noise. Send important tasks to your to-do list or project
management app with these automations.

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Automatically celebrate wins and build culture remotely
When you're working remotely, there's no "water cooler" talk, and
you can't high five over a team win. These automated workflows
can help you keep your office culture alive and allow the remote
socializing and celebrations to come more naturally.
Keep reading
The best automations for Slack users
Build culture in your remote team with automation
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9. Section 3
How to be a pro at remote
documentation
Remote work can require more discipline. You have to make sure you're
documenting your work and commit to writing things down. We've
learned that a lot of humans are just a little lazy about that stuff. We'd
rather casually tap someone on the shoulder than spend the time to
document a new process. But in a remote workplace, everyone has to
make this part of their process—even if it's not your preferred way of
working. Here we'll show you how to make it work.
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Tips for remote chat
Document more than you normally would
Take notes at every meeting to accommodate scheduling conflicts
Document all important decisions for transparency
If you do something more than once, document how you did it
Be intentional about file management
Decide which types of documentation live where
Don't rely on conversations in chat for important documentation
Update documentation quarterly and archive files that are no longer relevant
Think about your audience
Write clearly and concisely
Don't use jargon or acronyms
Provide context and include screenshots and video walkthroughs
Keep reading
A guide to onboarding remote employees
How to simplify content for a better reader experience
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10. Level up your remote meetings
search for your favorites
Don't see your app here? Zapier connects to thousands of
apps— .
10
Set yourself up for success
Zapier can automatically create files and folders for you, making
the documentation process frictionless. Turn every meeting or task
into a document or folder, or create files on a schedule so you
don't have to do it manually every time.
Get all new documentation to the right place
Having all your documentation in one place will make it so
everyone can find what they need. Automatically copy new files
and folders to different file management systems so your team
never has to waste time searching.

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Move all email attachments to a shared location
If team members send and receive files that everyone needs
access to, make sure those documents get moved to your
designated shared drive or storage system.
Keep reading
How to create and autopopulate a Google Docs template
How to use Evernote Templates to quickly make new notes
Create an agenda in Google Docs when you schedule a meeting in Google Calendar
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